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The impact of fraud and scams in today’s world goes far beyond financial losses. It alters buying behavior and increasingly targets victims through one of the most personal channels: their phones. As consumers rely more heavily on digital engagement, scammers are evolving even more quickly, turning everyday interactions, especially SMS, into high-risk moments.
According to the LSEG Risk Intelligence survey, “Financial scams have become one of the defining risks of the digital age and are now a global, mainstream threat that undermines trust in financial institutions and leaves a lasting emotional impact on its victims.” The scale of the problem is staggering.
Over their lifetimes, 38% of Americans have been scammed; 62% of those victims lost money. More than 10% reported sharing personal or financial information online with someone who turned out to be a scammer. While most consumers do not abandon digital channels altogether, many change their behavior after experiencing fraud.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), imposter scams have remained the #1 fraud category for the past nine consecutive years. While scams typically unfold across multiple channels, often beginning with compromised data, fraudsters are increasingly exploiting SMS, or “smishing,” as a favored stomping ground.
Consumers reported $470 million in losses in 2025 from scams that began with text messages, which is five times the 2020 total. The reason is simple: SMS is highly effective. Open rates can reach up to 98%, with response rates around 45%, far exceeding email engagement. For attackers, it’s a very attractive tool. Smishing now dominates mobile phishing, accounting for 69.3% of all mobile-based phishing.
The most common scams reflect the everyday nature of digital life:
The financial damage from fraud is immense, but its psychological and behavioral effects may be even more significant. Among those who have been defrauded, 97% say they are now more cautious online or avoid certain channels altogether.
Identity theft can have lasting consequences: one in three victims reports a negative impact on their credit score. In the past year alone, one in four Americans has frozen their credit due to fraud concerns, while 22% admit they don’t know how to do so. This gap highlights a broader issue: while awareness of fraud is rising, consumer understanding of protective measures is still lagging.
These trends are influencing how consumers evaluate the organizations they do business with. Security is increasingly a factor in provider selection, with nearly 69% saying they would switch providers for better security offerings.
According to Digital Information World, “As digital risks rise, many people are willing to give up parts of their online lives to protect themselves. Globally, 40 percent said they would leave social media altogether rather than risk identity theft. One in three would stop online shopping, and more than a quarter would quit online banking.”
This shift puts significant pressure on organizations. Security and customer confidence have become important competitive differentiators that influence retention and growth.
Rebuilding consumer confidence requires a multichannel approach. In addition to ensuring outbound calls are branded and authenticated, organizations must strengthen the security of their messaging channels, particularly SMS and RCS, where fraud is rapidly increasing.
1. Engage a Trusted Partner to Secure Your Channels
Partnering with a provider that offers a comprehensive, integrated fraud solution is essential. Look for capabilities that deliver real-time detection of spam, phishing and malicious activity across SMS, MMS, RCS, voice and IP channels, supported by adaptive models that evolve with emerging threats. Ensure they offer verified messaging services, including branded/verified SMS and RCS with sender verification. Businesses that clearly define what legitimate communication looks like and empower customers to spot anything else dramatically reduce the success of fraudulent text message scams.
2. Use Strong Multi-Factor Authentication Methods
In addition to authenticating outbound calls to reduce spoofing, passive device recognition acts as a strong, transparent layer of authentication when combined with login ID and password. Leverage solutions that detect SIM swaps, carrier changes, or number reassignments to protect OTP authentication by ensuring the device has not been compromised.
3. Protect Across Channels Throughout the Customer Lifecycle
Fraud rarely occurs in isolation. While it may begin in one channel, it often spans many channels, including in-person interactions, online platforms, call centers, and mobile apps. Effective protection must extend across all touchpoints to ensure consistent, coordinated security wherever customers engage.
4. Monitor and Detect Fraud in Real Time
To be effective, fraud prevention solutions must detect and disrupt threats as they occur, particularly within messaging channels, before they escalate into financial loss or negative customer experiences.
Steps include leveraging device risk solutions that enable you to:
As fraud becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, its impact extends beyond financial losses. For consumers, every suspicious message creates friction and uncertainty. For businesses, every fraudulent interaction risks damaging customer relationships and long-term loyalty.
The path forward lies in shifting from reactive protection to proactive trust-building, securing every interaction, at every stage, across every channel, at the moment it happens. Because fraudsters will continue to leverage new tools and techniques, scams are inevitable. Organizations that secure customer interactions across channels will be best positioned to build confidence, strengthen loyalty, and differentiate themselves in an increasingly skeptical digital marketplace.
The views expressed in this article belong solely to the author and do not represent The Fast Mode. While information provided in this post is obtained from sources believed by The Fast Mode to be reliable, The Fast Mode is not liable for any losses or damages arising from any information limitations, changes, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, omissions or errors contained therein. The heading is for ease of reference and shall not be deemed to influence the information presented.
Jonjie Sena is VP of Product Management at TransUnion, responsible for driving the go-to-market strategy for Contact Center and Communications Solutions. Jonjie and his team focus on helping businesses overcome the impacts of the robocalling epidemic and restoring trust in phone calls. Jonjie has over twenty years’ experience leading product strategy, technology and marketing teams to launch and drive market adoption of solutions for communications service providers and enterprises. He holds multiple patents in personalized and authenticated communications. Prior to joining TransUnion, Jonjie held executive roles as VP Product Marketing at Neustar, VP Marketing at TEOCO, and VP Products & Technology at ACE*COMM.
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